Game on!
by FlightofSilver
Summary: Three kids who love video games suddenly get kidnapped into Gameon, the world of video games! No longer working on it due to lack of interest.
1. Stuck in a Video Game Pt 1

well, here's my main project. I'm having fun with it. Hope you enjoy reading it.

Disclaimer: I only own Kris, Ryan, Emily, Derek and Gameon Citadel. Everything else is Nintendo's.

Stuck in a Video Game - Part 1

"_GAME!" _

"_The winner is… Link!"_

"Yes! I win again!" Kris set her controller on the ground and raised her fists triumphantly.

Her friend Ryan sulked. "Two out of three?"

"She already won three," Emily pointed out.

"Wanna try again?" Kris asked eagerly, picking up her controller again and skipping through her results.

"Nah," Ryan replied, dropping his controller and standing up. "It's no fun playing against someone who always wins."

"I'll try again," Emily piped up. "But maybe we could try team battle against someone really tough. Playing a chronic winner is fun if she's on your team."

"Great!" Kris set the character selection of a CPU to Ganondorf. "How about this guy on… let's say, 8?"

"Sure!"

Both turned to look at Ryan. He stood still for one minute and stared at the screen, then at the controller, thinking over the options. Finally, he grabbed his own controller and exclaimed, "Okay, I'll join in!"

Kris grinned. "Ready to fight!" She pressed a button to continue and listened to the sound of a crowd cheering through the TV speakers.

* * *

Derek strolled up the mountain trail. This was a nice place, and he had been trying to buy the deed to this land for some time, but it had been in the current owner's family line for several generations, so they were pretty stubborn. He came to a cavern and walked inside to take a break and a drink of water. There was suddenly a flash of light, and a circular, translucent thing that looked like the portals in movies formed in the back of the cave. Derek stepped closer and jumped in surprise when a voice barked at him.

"You there! Join us!

Derek looked all around, saw no one, and blinked hard. "Who said that?"

"I did! Look into the portal!"

He looked, and saw a tall, bulky man with unnaturally dark skin and red hair and something that looked like a big, ferocious spiky mutant turtle. The man spoke again. "Join us in our quest!"

Derek shook his head hard and answered, "Me? Join you? What's your quest?"

The man reached through the portal, grabbed him by the front of his shirt with a hand bigger than Derek's head, and pulled him through the portal. Derek blinked as he was suddenly standing before a vast, diverse, and completely unfamiliar world. "Where am I?"

"You are in Gameon, the world we plan to conquer. The king has died--"

"Meaning it's all completely up for grabs." The turtle cut in.

"--and we have so far been unsuccessful. Perhaps, with your help--"

"_My_ help? What can I do??"

"Bring us something from your world that could help us." He looked a little annoyed with the constant interruptions. "As long as it helps somehow, I don't care if you bring a snail in an old boot. If you do, and it is successful, we will grant you a portion of this world to rule as you see fit."

"We will?" The turtle asked. The man discreetly jabbed him in the belly with his elbow while Derek wasn't watching, and the turtle revised his answer. "Yeah, we will!"

Derek's eyes widened. To blazes with that mountain place! A part of this world, all his? How could he refuse?

"Yes! I'll do it! But… who are you?"

The man bowed his head and answered, "My name is Ganondorf, and my slow-witted friend here is called Bowser."

* * *

Kris, Ryan, and Emily stepped out of the video store, purchase-less, as usual. They were chatting about some of the games they had seen. "You know, it's kind of funny how many Mario and Legend of Zelda games there are," Kris remarked. "You'd think someone would get tired of them. At the very least, Bowser and Ganondorf!" The three kids laughed, and a nearby man stopped short and listened, unnoticed.

"Yeah, you'd think they'd just give up," Ryan agreed. "Or maybe they just keep getting new ideas."

"Gotta give 'em points for perseverance," Emily added.

"True. But, seriously," Kris laughed. "At the rate they're doing it, _I _could do better! Or at least give pointers."

"Excuse me," the man who had been listening to them approached. "But would you come with me for a minute?"

"I'm sorry," Kris snapped. "But none of us would go anywhere with men we've never seen before who just randomly start talking to kids walking alone. Bye!"

"Um, Kris," Emily started as Kris turned her back on the man.

"Watch out!" Ryan cried.

The stranger snatched Kris off her feet and carried her to a car. "STOP!" Ryan and Emily yelled, giving chase.

He tossed Kris in the backseat and jumped into the driver's seat. "Fasten a seat belt," he ordered. "I don't want you flailing around back there."

Kris fastened herself in the right backseat, so she was as far as possible from the driver, and looked out the window, seeing her friends running after the car. They were quickly left behind, and Kris sighed quietly and prayed for a few minutes.

"So, why did you kidnap me?" she finally asked. _If I'm going to be held against my will, I'd like to at least know what's going on._ she thought.

Derek glanced at the girl in the rearview mirror. _"_I believe you can be useful for someone."

"That all?" Kris asked. "How?"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

* * *

Emily slowed to a stop and gasped for breath. "Wait!" she called to Ryan. "We can't keep up with a car. We lost them."

Ryan stopped and nodded. "Did you remember anything on the license plate? How that guy looked? What kind of car that was?"

Emily shook her head. "Just that it was a tannish-beige color. Did you?"

"That's all I got, too. And there are probably eighty other cars that color."

"This is bad."

"Yeah."

They stood in the road gazing helplessly after the car for a few minutes, then raced to the police station.

* * *

"Here we are," Derek parked the car and opened the door. Kris climbed out and looked around. They were in the mountains, that was all she knew. Derek pulled an gun out and gestured toward the entrance to a path. "Get moving."

Kris walked ahead of him until they reached a small cave. "Get in there," Her kidnapper told her. She stepped inside and saw what looked like a glowing round door. Amazed, Kris stepped closer, and Derek roughly grabbed her from behind and threw her in.

Kris felt like she was entering the surface of a plastic bubble and then it all went back to normal as she reached the other side. She landed painfully on her elbows and looked around. Ganondorf and Bowser stood over her. _Okay,_ she thought. _I have finally lost my mind. And I don't think it's coming back._

Ganondorf sized up the kid, then looked at Derek on the other side of the portal. "This is the best you can find?" he remarked skeptically.

"Sir," Derek replied. "I heard her say she could give you pointers on how to take over the world."

So that was it! Kris clenched her fists. _Me and my big mouth._

"I'll take your word for it," Ganondorf muttered. Bowser picked up Kris like she was a toy and carried her down a tunnel. He tossed her in a cage, shut the door and left, glancing at her and muttering, "I shoulda known we'd get something like this. Just our luck." Kris responded by making a face at him when he wasn't looking.

* * *

Ganondorf flipped a switch on the machine near the portal, and it flickered and vanished. When Bowser entered, Ganondorf asked, "Know of any uses for our new prisoner?"

"Not really. She could be bait."

Ganondorf shook his head paced for a moment, deep in thought. "Too easy. We could do that with any Gameon resident. In fact, it would probably work better with a Gameon resident. At least then they're sure to care enough."

He turned to Bowser, "Ask her some questions. About us, about the lands of Gameon, our enemies, so on. See what she knows. She could be useful after all."

* * *

Kris struggled with the bars of her cage. The door was locked, of course, and she didn't have anything to break or pick the lock. _Think, girl, think_ she told herself. _If this were a video game, you'd be out of here by now. Then again, in video games, the way out is all planned out by programmers._

Just then, Bowser stomped in. "Kid, where do I come from?"

Kris immediately had two ideas: Planet Ugly and the Mushroom Kingdom. The second choice seemed smarter.

"The Mushroom Kingdom."

"What're the little pipsqueaks that live there called?"

"Toads."

"Who's the guy with the big nose, mustache, and a goofy accent that beats me all the time?"

"Uh, Mario. Trick question?"

And on and on. Kris was actually starting to have fun with Bowser's quiz. When he stopped and left, Kris sat down on the ground and wondered why he had quizzed her anyway. She got her answer in fifteen minutes, when Bowser returned and said, "More info. How do we beat Mario and the elf boy?"

* * *

Link, Mario, and Pit crouched behind a boulder and peered out. "Look," Pit hissed. "There's a Koopa coming out of that hole. I told you."

"Right," Link whispered. "They must be in there."

"Let's go," Mario added. "We'll bring the fight to them this time."

A Goomba spotted them from a distance and raced away as fast as its teeny legs could go.

* * *

"You think I'll tell you?" Kris snapped. "Get a brain!"

"Mr. Bowser, sir!" A Goomba came running in. "Mario and his friends are coming!"

"Tell Ganondorf about it, I'm busy!"

"If you let me out," Kris suggested. "I might be more willing to give information."

Bowser thought that over, then reached over and opened the door. "Okay, talk."

Kris stepped out, looked Bowser directly in the eye, and said distinctly, "You're big, stupid, and really, really ugly!" Then she turned and ran like a jackrabbit while Bowser roared angrily and chased her.

Kris came to a T in the tunnel. Before she had a chance to choose a path, Bowser was right on top of her. Her back to the wall, Kris thought quickly and remembered one trick that had worked on Ryan more than once.

She pointed past Bowser and yelled, "Hey, look! A distraction!"

"Huh?" Bowser turned and looked around. Kris bolted down the left tunnel, thinking _Wow, what a dummy_.

She kept running until she had to stop to catch her breath. She leaned against the wall and waited for her pulse and breathing to return to normal. She smiled, thinking,_ This is kinda fun. You get quite a thrill running from a video game boss in real life. I wonder if anyone at home would believe me if I told them. WAIT! What's that?! _She jumped to her feet, and everything in her chest seemed to clench up.

_Someone's coming! I gotta run!_ Not even thinking about which way she was going, Kris bolted.

_OOF!_

Kris slammed into someone and fell backwards. She looked up and saw Link standing over her, looking a little surprised. She knew she was probably at least as surprised, if not more.

Then Link asked, "Who are you?" He sounded suspicious. _Makes sense_, Kris thought. _After all, he's never seen me before, and most prisoners don't run around free in the bad guy's lair._

She climbed up to her feet and saw Link's right ear twitch a teeny bit. He looked over the top of her head, and his face changed to the look of battle determination Kris had seen on the video games as he pulled out his took a step to the side and looked behind her, listening carefully. A low, gravelly chuckle reached her ears, and Ganondorf stepped into view. Kris chose to move. They were probably going to fight now, and she didn't want to be blasted or get any part of her cut off. Link lunged with his sword, but Ganondorf sidestepped and then punched Link in the side, sending him flying into a wall and leaving little "flames" of darkness on him.

Kris winced. _I hope Link can beat him. _She looked around. _Maybe I could… Wait a minute, what's that?_ she listened hard, then smiled slowly. She moved a couple feet away from the battle, keeping an eye on the fighters, and called out, "Hey, Bowser! Looking for someone?"

She heard a bellow and grinned. She raced past Link and Ganondorf then crouched behind a big rock. Bowser lunged into the tunnel and came charging at the two fighters in a blind rage. Both saw him coming and turned to get out of the way, but Link was faster and Ganondorf found himself trapped underneath Bowser.

Kris popped out of her hiding place, waved at Link with an "I'm on your side" grin, and sped off the way Link had come. Behind her, Link looked at the two villains, let out a laugh, then followed the girl.

* * *

When Kris at last set foot outside, the first thing she noticed was the view. From the mountain she was at, she could see all sorts of different landscapes and places. She knew that she was seeing a lot of the locations of video games, though there was a distant, huge structure that didn't look like something from any game she'd seen. It looked like a castle, with lots of walls and turrets and towers. _I wonder what that is?_

She turned at the sound of footsteps, and saw Link. He was looking at her with less distrust, but still unsure.

She suddenly realized, _I am actually face-to-face with Link! The totally super-cool video game hero!_ The thought made her feel a little like she was suddenly one of those screaming fan-girls at rock concerts, only much quieter and she wasn't hopping up and down madly. _Please, God, don't let me do anything like that!_

Link spoke up, "You never answered my question."

"My name's Kris," she replied quickly, glad to have something to say that wouldn't humiliate her. "I'm from Earth. Heard of the place?"

He looked thoughtful. "I have. What are you doing here?"

"I opened my mouth, said a few things as a joke, then this guy grabbed me, tossed me through a portal and next thing I know I'm being held prisoner by Ganondorf and Bowser and they're trying to get me to tell them how to take over the world. I didn't tell them anything like that, though."

Link frowned, but then his ears gave another teeny twitch, and he turned. Kris looked and spotted Mario and Pit approaching. _This is really turning out to be a great adventure!_ _Ryan and Emily should be here!_ Then Kris suddenly decided she should stop thinking.

Pit and Mario jumped up to join Link and, when they saw Kris, asked, "Who's this?"

"This is-" Link began.

"I'm Kris." She hated being spoken for, even when being introduced to video game heroes. "I was kidnapped from Earth."

Pit blinked hard. "EARTH? A lot of people around here _know_ about it, but I didn't think anyone knew how to actually _get_ to it."

Mario frowned. "Just our luck that those two find a way there first. We should let the others know. You want to come with us?" he asked Kris.

"Sure!"

* * *

After a long and surprisingly uneventful walk, Kris could see that they were headed for the huge castle-like structure she had seen. She asked Link, "What's that? I've never seen anything like it."

"That's Gameon Citadel. The ruler of Gameon lives there."

"Gameon? I've never heard of that place. Where is it?"

All three video game heroes laughed. "What'd I say that was funny?" Kris snapped, annoyed.

"Sorry," Pit answered. "Of course you wouldn't know. Gameon is the name of our world. The places you know about are just parts of it."

Kris looked around. Of course, nothing looked dramatically different; it was just now that she knew what the name of this world was, things just seemed a little different somehow. She turned her attention back to Gameon Citadel. "So, who is the ruler of Gameon?"

Her immediate answer was some throat-clearing and a whole lot of looks at each other, as if they were each trying to will one of the other two to come up with something.

Mario answered, "We, uh, don't have one right now."

"Huh?"

"It's like this," Link explained. "The king died not long ago. Once Ganondorf and Bowser found out, they attacked the citadel before the next ruler was chosen. There's probably someone in the citadel who could explain better, but right now we just have the potential heirs in charge. Everyone decided it would work better to wait till a better time to crown a monarch."

"_Almost_ everyone," Pit corrected him. "Don't forget that weirdo Onkled."

"Right," Link acknowledged. "But he's an exception."

"Who?" Kris asked.

"Never mind. It's a long story. You'll meet him in the citadel. Just don't expect a warm welcome," Mario told her.

Kris raised an eyebrow but kept quiet. They had reached Gameon Citadel now, and Kris gazed up at it, awestruck. The ten-foot-high door looked impossible to open - no handles, no hinges, no nothing - but when the four stepped up to it, it pixilated and disappeared. _Wow,_ Kris thought as she entered Gameon Citadel. _That is cool._

The door opened to a short corridor, at the other end of which lay a massive, high-ceilinged throne room. On each side there were two thrones, while at the opposite wall from the entrance stood a bigger, more majestic throne, apparently meant for whoever ruled Gameon. The other four thrones were each occupied by a prince or princess that Kris could recognize.

In the first there was Princess Zelda, the second was occupied by Princess Peach, Prince Marth was sitting in the third, looking a bit sullen, and the fourth, Roy, leaned forward in his throne curiously as Kris walked forward with Pit, Mario, and Link near her. They all stood up and approached.

"How did it go?" Zelda asked. Kris thought she was talking more to Link than the other two, but she brushed it off, figuring it was her imagination.

Link shrugged. "Not as well as we hoped. We found out where Ganondorf and Bowser are hiding, but they'll be fighting back soon. We also found this kid running around in there." He gestured to Kris.

Kris sucked in a sharp breath and bit her tongue to hold in her anger at the way he referred to her. While it was very tempting to say some smart remark about "this kid" having a name, and at any other time it would be out by now, it would probably blow any chance at an adventure. "My name is Kris," she introduced herself. "I'm from Earth."

The four royalty figures reacted with surprise and incredulity, as Kris had expected. "How did you come here?" Roy asked.

"Some creep kidnapped me and tossed me through a portal. I think he was working for Ganondorf and Bowser. Bowser stuck me in a cage and tried to get me to tell him how take over Gameon. I don't know how to take over the world, so I just told him he was ugly, big, and stupid, which made him a little mad, so then I bolted and ran into Link."

"So they were after you," Roy said. "I guess they think you know something they can use. I'll bet anything they'll target you in their counterattack."

"Which means you should probably stay in the Citadel," Link told Kris. "It's not safe for you right now."

"WHAT?!?!" Kris exclaimed.

"He's right, you should stay here," Zelda added. "Just until we can get you back to Earth."

Kris's shoulders slumped. So much for adventure.

* * *

So for the next week or so, Kris lived in Gameon Citadel. It wasn't so bad at first; the place was huge, and she got to meet the other residents of the Citadel. On her first day, Kris was exploring one of the upper levels, feeling a little homesick and worrying about her friends and family, when she bumped into and nearly tripped over something small, round and pink. She looked down and smiled brightly when she recognized the little pink ball.

"Hey, you're Kirby, aren't you?" she asked, bending down to look right at him, since he was only about as high as her knees.

He blinked at her, then smiled. Kris smiled back. "Would you like to be my friend? I could really use one here."

Kirby jumped up and down enthusiastically, making Kris laugh. So Kirby became her first and best friend in Gameon.

* * *

Kris also met Samus, who was really sarcastic and tough, Yoshi, who was a lot of fun to play with, and Ness, who turned out to be a pain who expected to have everyone's rapt attention at all times. She also met "that weirdo Onkled" as Pit had called him.

She was wandering near the throne room when she spotted a man in royal robes sitting with his arms crossed, watching the people inside talk and plan with a dark look. She asked him, "What's the matter with you?"

He turned and frowned at her. "You," he muttered. "The Earth girl. No one has ever come here from Earth. I'd rather that have stayed that way. But of course, everything else already gone wrong, why not just toss an Earth child in the mix?"

Kris cocked her head curiously and frowned. "What do you mean, everything else has gone wrong?"

"I mean," he answered impatiently, as if Kris's very presence in Gameon meant she was supposed to automatically know everything there was to know about it. "The decision to wait. Gameon should have an actual ruler by now. But no, they want to wait until those two _ruffians _are incapacitated, _then_ they say the ruler will be chosen. I have served here for eight generations, and nothing like this has ever happened before," he shook his head. "No, no, it's wrong, all wrong."

"I don't understand, sir."

"You don't know anything about this place, do you? While the king or queen lives, he or she chooses four princes or princesses to possibly take over the throne. When they know that their reign is ending, then they choose their heir, and the chosen prince or princess is crowned king or queen. Well, this king didn't even leave a name when he died. Nothing. Of course, that shouldn't stop anyone, but since Ganondorf and Bowser attacked the minute they knew the king was dead, now everyone thinks it would be better to make sure they won't interfere first, _then_ give Gameon a ruler! It's all wrong, I tell you! Wrong, wrong, _WRONG_!"

Kris raised her eyebrows and inched away slowly. "O-kaaay… Well, I will keep that in mind. Thank you, uh…"

"Onkled," the man mumbled, going back to his sullen state. "_Sir_ Onkled to you."

"Thank you, _Sir_ Onkled." Kris turned and walked away, making a note to herself to not talk to anyone who looked unhappy. She met Pit soon later, and related the conversation to him. He responded with a laugh.

"Yeah, he's always been a real persnickety blowhard. If things don't happen exactly the way they're 'supposed' to, he freaks out and then sulks."

"Yeah, I kinda found that out."

They both laughed.

* * *

Emily was looking through the junk mail she had just pulled out of her mailbox when she spotted a small picture of Kris on some sort of newsletter and sighed. She'd been kidnapped only yesterday, and already everyone with a mailbox in the neighborhood knew she was missing. She walked inside, dropped the stack on the kitchen counter, and sat at the table, opening the book she had left there. She slouched forward until her chin sat on the table and she couldn't read the printing on the page without straining her eyes. With a sigh, she closed the book and turned her Nintendo DS on instead. After four levels of Tetris, the doorbell rang. Emily paused the game and walked to the door. She checked through the peephole and opened the door when she saw that it was Ryan.

"Hey," she said dully.

"Hey there," Ryan answered. He pulled his own Nintendo DS out of his pocket. "What're you doing?"

"Not much. Mostly worrying about Kris and praying about Kris."

"Same here." Ryan grinned humorlessly. "So I came over so we can compare notes."

Emily laughed, but stopped abruptly. "What's so not funny?" Ryan asked. Emily pointed behind him, looking fearful. Ryan turned and gasped.

A car had pulled up in front of Emily's house, and the driver stepped out. Though they hadn't been able to remember what Kris's kidnapper had looked like, they both recognized him immediately.

"Em, shut the door," Ryan whispered, taking a step into her house. The man raced up the driveway and snagged a handful of Ryan's shirt, dragging him away from the door. Ryan struggled, but his captor was stronger. It was evident who would win. Emily slammed the door shut, locked it, and ran out the back door. _I have to find out where he'll take Ryan, _she thought. _Then I might find out where Kris is, too. _

She heard the sound of fighting and jumped into the bushes. She sneaked past them to the kidnapper's car. Sending up a quick prayer, she grasped the trunk handle and pulled. Surprisingly, it popped open. Emily looked up the driveway again. Ryan was clearly losing badly, but neither seemed to have noticed. Emily checked the inside of the trunk and noticed a small T-shaped handle attached to a short wire, probably to open the trunk. Apparently, this guy didn't plan to stick Ryan inside, or he would have cut that off.

Taking a deep breath, Emily climbed inside and closed the trunk, plunging herself into pitch blackness. She lay still, waiting, and began wondering why she was doing this and what would happen to them. One thought occurred to her: _Kris is more likely to do this than me. Why me?_

* * *

Pit, Mario, and Yoshi stood near the door of Gameon Citadel. Pit looked around.

"Isn't Kirby coming on this mission?"

"Sure he is," Mario answered, pointing. "Here he is now."

Kirby waddled up slowly, looking like he'd tried to swallow a rhino that had gotten stuck.

"What now?" Mario muttered under his breath, and then asked out loud. "What do you have in there, Kirby?"

Kirby just blinked at him. No surprise there.

"Come on, let's go."

Kirby moved an awkward step forward.

"Kirby, spit that out," Pit told him. "You'll move a lot easier."

Kirby shook his head. "Mmmn-mm."

"Spit it out," Mario said. "Come on, do it."

Kirby blinked again anxiously.

"Now."

He finally opened his mouth, and out popped Kris, looking sheepish. Mario sighed and Pit laughed out loud.

"Clever," he congratulated. "Very clever. You almost got out the door that time."

Kris looked daggers at him and stood up. "Uhhh, can I please come?" she asked Mario, already knowing the answer.

"No. It's dangerous."

Kris bit her tongue to keep back the snappy comeback that popped into her mind and nodded. She turned and walked away while Kirby gave her the "I'm sorry" look he always had when he had to leave without her. She smiled ruefully as she climbed a flight of stairs. _The only one around here who sympathizes is a round pink airhead. Just my luck._

She finally reached her destination: a window which she used to reach the roof. Kris climbed onto the sill, twisted around to grab the edge of the roof, and pulled herself on. Walking in a half-crouch, she walked to a tower and sat down with her back against it. Taking in the view, she thought about home and sighed.

"_The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." _she thought. _Back_ _home I was usually bored, but_ _now that I'm in a world that's practically teeming with adventure, I'm not even allowed to leave a building._

She closed her eyes and prayed. Peace and contentment settled around her, and she felt better before long. She opened her eyes to survey the lands around her and smiled. _But I'm here,_ she thought. _And I'm going to make the most of it._

And there's part 1. If you liked it, yay. If you hated it, I apologize for your wasted time and hope you find something you do like.

Reviews of any kind will be welcomed/tolerated/forgiven.


	2. Stuck in a Video Game Pt 2

Yup, Peach and Zelda are both kidnapped again. Le gasp!

I only own Kris, Ryan, Emily, and Derek. And Gameon Citadel.

Stuck in a Video Game - Part 2

Kris was sitting on the roof again the next day, and this time Kirby was with her. The sun was setting, and Kris was thinking about home again when a loud noise jolted her awake. She jumped up and looked around. Bowser and Ganondorf were coming. Kris squinted. She couldn't tell for sure, but… it looked like they had a human kid with them.

No time to worry about that right now. Kris turned to Kirby.

"Come on, we should warn the others." Kirby nodded, and Kris swung back down through the window into the hall. By the time they reached the throne room, Kris knew they were too late. Huge blocks of debris tumbled into the center of the room, forcing those in the room to dive for cover. Kris stopped short in the doorway, her heart thudding as she looked around. Mario, Link, Samus, Pit, Marth, Roy, Ness and Yoshi stood around the pile of rubble which had once been part of the roof, ready and waiting for Bowser and Ganondorf to appear. Kris's eyes widened when she saw that Peach and Zelda both had their skirts pinned to the floor. She ran to help, but Bowser dropped down on the top of the pile and Kris retreated out of instinct.

Bowser grinned when he noticed the princesses trapped on the ground. "Hey, looks like we got easy pickings this time!" he remarked.

"Don't go anywhere near them, Bowser!" Mario yelled.

"Oh, yeah?" Bowser taunted. ""Who's gonna stop me?"

Mario and the others charged forward to answer his words with actions. Ganondorf dropped down next to Bowser, his arm hooked around a preteen boy's neck. Kris's eyes widened in horrified recognition and cried out, "Wait! Stop! He's got another Earth kid." It was Ryan.

Everyone skidded to a stop. Ganondorf sneered in Kris's direction. "A wise move, my dear," he said to Kris. Kris stepped back into the shadows and pressed her back to the wall, feeling sickto her stomach.

Bowser walked down to the bottom of the rock pile and picked up Peach in one mammoth hand and Zelda in the other. Kris slid to the ground and dropped her forehead on her knees in helplessness. _They've got Ryan, and now they can kidnap anyone they want. All because _I _had to go and open my big mouth._

Bowser and Ganondorf left with their prizes, and Kris felt a tap on the top of her head. She looked up and saw Kirby with a questioning look on his face. She sighed.

"That kid they had with them was one of my friends at home. And it's my fault he's in trouble now."

Kirby simply blinked, as usual. Kris sighed again. Then she looked up, realizing that Mario, Link, Yoshi and Samus were quickly making plans to rescue the three captives. She eagerly ran up. "I want to go with you this time!" she cried.

With the looks they gave her, she might as well have just said, "Ask them nicely."

"You stay," Mario stated.

"But Ryan's my friend!" Kris argued.

"Forget it," Samus snapped. "We've got to rescue three people already. We don't want to have to watch out for you, too!"

"Oh, please, I can take care of myself!" With Samus, sometimes Kris just had to get sarcastic.

"We don't have time for this!" Link exclaimed. "Kris, you're staying. End of discussion."

"But," Kris tried something else. "The portal to Earth is probably there! You could save the princesses and get rid of me forever in one trip!"

A little sound from Kirby caught Kris's attention. She turned and was immediately filled with guilt when she saw the hurt look on her little friend's face.

"This isn't a game, Kris!" Mario told her. "You can't go; you're an Earth kid! Kirby, make sure Kris stays here, okay?"

"What-" Kris stammered.

"No more buts. We're going." The four heroes turned and ran out the door.

"I-I-Oooohh!" Kris stormed around the throne room and onto the path, where she could still just see the retreating figures. She yelled, although she knew they wouldn't hear her.

"I said WHAT!

Emily pulled the handle and popped the trunk open. Listening carefully, she crawled out and sighed with relief. They must have driven a thousand miles on bumpy road, and she was sore all over. She looked around and spotted a path leading up to the mountains. Guessing that the kidnapper had taken Ryan there, Emily followed it. When she heard a strange noise from a cavern up ahead, she broke into a run, her heart jumping into her mouth.

A pale light shone from inside. Emily ducked behind a large rock near the entrance and watched. There was no sign of Kris or Ryan, but she saw the man who had taken her friends standing in front of some sort of portal, and it sounded like something beyond it was talking to him. Emily crept closer.

"…bring them to us. The first one got away from us before we could get anything out of her, and I don't expect this one to last any longer."

_So that's it!_ Emily thought. _They must be over there, if they're still alive. But why?_

The man bowed his head. "Yes, sir. There is one more child who might know a thing or two about things in Gameon. I know where she lives; I'll be back with her shortly."

_Gameon?_

He turned and strode outside. Emily knew where he was going: her house. He probably thought she was still there. For the first time, she was actually glad she'd stowed away in the trunk.

She snuck closer to the portal and peered inside. She could hardly believe her eyes. Ganondorf and Bowser stood on the other side. Between them stood Ryan, tied up. Emily gulped. _What's going on?_

Kris sat on the edge of a window, staring out moodily.

"I don't see why they won't let me go with them. Ryan's my friend, and besides, I got out of Ganondorf and Bowser's lair just fine on my own. I don't think it's that dangerous. So what if I'm an Earth kid," she grumbled. She shook her head and put her chin on her knees. "I want to go home. At least Mom let me out of the house."

She heard a little whimper and looked down. Kirby was standing on the floor looking up at her sadly. Kris felt a pang of guilt again. She jumped down from the window and landed next to Kirby.

"Sorry, Kirby. I didn't mean it like that. It's not you. You've been a great friend. It's just…" she sighed. "I don't want to be stuck in a building all the time. I want to explore. You know, have adventures, like you and the others. And I'm worried about my friend. I want to help make sure he's okay. You know?"

Kirby looked at her and nodded. Kris smiled and looked out the window. "You know what? I don't care what they say. I want to go."

She turned back to Kirby. "Will you help?"

Kirby nodded and smiled. Kris thought carefully. _Let's see, how can we get there?_ A light bulb lit up in her mind. "Kirby, can you use the Warp Star?"

Mario, Link, Samus and Yoshi hiked along the trail. Samus grunted, "You sure this is the right way?"

"Positive." Mario answered. "I glimpsed them heading this direction, and their lair was somewhere around here last time."

"Uh-huh," she muttered, vaulting over a low wall. "Yeah, like they're never going to move somewhere else. Noooo, who'd ever think of _that_?"

Link heard her, but decided to ignore it… this time. Instead, he pointed, "There should be a tunnel opening up ahead. We go in there, and we should find out where they're keeping the princesses and that kid."

The four of them reached the tunnel and walked inside cautiously. Strangely, they didn't even see any Koopas or Goombas After they had walked into a small cavern, Samus looked around and spoke up quietly.

"There's nobody here."

"Oh?"

Mario was suddenly blasted forward. He hit the wall and collapsed on the ground in an unmoving heap. Yoshi darted over and nuzzled him anxiously, whimpering. Samus spun around in time to see Ganondorf grab Link around the neck and lift him into the air. She turned back to where Mario lay still and tried to rush to his aid. A meaty hand snatched her off her feet and threw her down on her back. Bowser stood over her, and yelled, "It's crunch time!"

"NO!!!" Samus cried.

"Hey, Big, Dumb, and Ugly, remember me?" a familiar voice called out.

"Huh?" Bowser turned, confused.

"Kris?" Samus exclaimed, sitting up.

Kris made a face at Bowser. "Bleah!"

"Why, you little, I'll--" Bowser lunged at Kris and blew a fireball at her.

Kris dodged and broke into a run. "Catch me if you can, hothead!"

Bowser bellowed in rage and chased after her, completely forgetting about Mario, Samus, and Yoshi.

Samus climbed to her feet. _She came even though we told her she couldn't, _she thought. Then she smiled._ I knew there was something I liked about that kid._

She turned to revive Mario.

Kris laughed and called over her shoulder, "You aren't a very fast runner, are you? No, you're not! You're slow!" She followed this with another laugh.

Bowser just growled and kept chasing her, though he did try to go a little faster. Kris ran as hard and fast as she could, turned sharply at a corner and smiled once she heard the _thud_ indicating that Bowser hadn't turned fast enough. She ducked into a nearby room and slammed the door shut. Finding a few crates to stack as a barricade, she caught her breath, looked around the room and spotted a couple of cages behind a pile of crates and junk. She walked around and looked inside them. The first was empty, but the second held Ryan. She smiled and strolled up to it nonchalantly.

"Hey, Ryan!" Kris said with a grin. "Long time, no see!"

"Kris?" Ryan looked surprised to see her. "What are you doing here? Are you here to help me out?"

"No, I'm here to tap dance. Of course I'm here to help you out!"

"Just get me out and cut the sarcasm while you're doing it."

"What's the magic word?"

BANG! Something slammed against the door. Bowser had found them.

"HURRY!"

"That'll work," Kris tugged at the door-- of course, it was locked-- and looked around the room for something to smash the lock with. Not very far away was a long cylinder with one open end. Kris and Ryan both saw it and looked at each other. Kris grinned.

"_OH_, no, you don't!" Ryan snapped. "Not if that's what I think that is!"

Kris just grinned again, grabbed it, and aimed it directly at the lock.

"Oh, no!" Ryan cried out and covered his head with his arms.

_BOOM!_

Kris launched a firecracker at the cage. and it fell apart, leaving Ryan unhurt and free. Bowser smashed the door open.

"ALL RIGHT, YOU LITTLE BRAT, TIME FOR YOU TO---"

_BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!_

Kris blasted him back into the tunnel. Ryan stood up and watched as she blasted him again and again.

_BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-pff-pff_

"Uh-oh," Kris gulped. "It's out of firecrackers."

Meanwhile, Bowser recovered from his beating and stomped back to the door. Kris quickly chucked the cracker launcher at him and ran, with Ryan right behind her. Bowser snarled, "This is getting old," under his breath and pursued the two kids.

"How did you get here?"

Emily jumped and spun around. "It's you!"

"So it is." Derek approached. "I've been asked to retrieve you, and apparently it just got a whole lot easier."

"What makes you think that?" Emily snapped, trying not to let him know she was panicking on the inside. She looked around desperately for somewhere to run. There was nowhere, except the portal. Emily swallowed hard, closed her eyes and jumped in.

Derek stood still and blinked in surprise. "Now that, I wasn't expecting."

Kris and Ryan found their way back to the place where the heroes had been ambushed. Ganondorf and Link were gone, but Mario was standing up with Samus and Yoshi on either side.

"Get ready, Bowser's coming," Kris told them as she caught her breath.

"Actually," Ryan piped up, looking over his shoulder. "He's not."

"He's not?"

"Either that or he's gotten a lot stealthier."

All five looked at each other and shook their heads. Mario sighed, "Maybe he's at the portal. You know, to get another kid or something. Why stop at two?"

Kris and Ryan looked at each other in horror. He was right; there was still Emily.

"Let's go!" Kris cried.

Bowser snickered as he lumbered into the warp cavern. A light flashed, indicating someone was coming through the portal. He hurried to catch the kid when he suddenly felt a sucking force in front of him. Bowser was already moving forward, so he couldn't fight the force.

"Aaaa-aaa-aaaaah!"

Mario, Samus, Yoshi, Kris and Ryan raced into the room minutes later. There was only a large machine with a flashing light near the far wall and a very puffed-up-looking Kirby. They looked around, puzzled.

"Where's Bowser?" Mario asked.

Kirby suddenly popped up as if something had bumped up against the inside of his head. Kris, Ryan, Mario, and Samus smiled.

"Turn around and spit him out," Kris told Kirby. Kirby turned and spit Bowser out, who crashed into the wall and lay there, stunned.

Emily sailed into the room and landed on the floor at Kris and Ryan's feet.

"Em!" Kris exclaimed as she and Ryan helped her up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Emily shook her head and saw Kirby, Samus, Mario, Yoshi, and Bowser. "But… I've been wrong before."

"They're real," Ryan reassured her. "Don't worry."

"About seeing imaginary things, that is," Kris added. "There are a few very real problems to worry about."

"Okay," Emily looked around. "I'm ready to help, if possible."

Mario grinned, "I like this girl."

Link gasped weakly for air. Ganondorf smiled evilly and his yellow eyes glinted.

"Finally, I will be rid of you."

"In your dreams!"

Ganondorf turned and scowled.

Kris stood with fists on her hips and feet firmly planted in a wide stance. Not threatening at all. Ganondorf snorted and dropped Link on the ground.

"If you think you could take me, it is you who are dreaming."

Kris rolled her eyes. "I never said that."

Link climbed unsteadily to his feet, but Ganondorf was too distracted by the three children to notice. Ryan and Emily stepped up on either side of Kris. Ganondorf laughed out loud. "You three Earth children really think you can defeat me?"

Kris exchanged a glance with her friends. "Nope, not a chance," she answered airily.

Emily piped up. "We were just keeping you busy until the real heroes showed up."

Ganondorf looked around and saw that Mario, Kirby, Samus, and Yoshi had appeared.

Ryan added, "And, to be fair, the big, dumb, ugly turtle-dude."

Bowser stomped in and growled. "I heard that!"

Kris turned and left, "Hasta la vista! Oh, and F.Y.I," she added to Bowser. "You were supposed to hear that."

Bowser roared an order, and a group of Koopas and Goombas appeared. Link drew his sword, and a mighty battle erupted while Kris, Ryan, and Emily watched from a hiding place they found behind a boulder.

Bowser and Ganondorf were obviously losing. Ganondorf escaped into the warp cavern. Kris was the only one who noticed. "Come on," she whispered, jerking her head in the door's direction.

Ganondorf turned on the portal machine and watched the portal form. Derek stood at the other side.

"You have been useless!" Ganondorf snarled at him. "You have found us only three brats that keep getting away from us and siding with our enemies!"

"I-I'm sorry, sir! Just-just give me some more time and I promise--"

"I have a better idea! Bowser and I will come over there!"

Kris felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. She turned to look at her friends. They had the same stricken looks. Ganondorf and Bowser in their world?

They ran back to the scene of the battle. A charging Goomba slammed into Kris, and she hit the ground with a grunt. Emily and Ryan stopped and helped her up. She glared at Ryan, who stood closest to the Goomba which looked stunned.

"Well, go on, stomp him," Kris snapped. Ryan jumped on top of the Goomba, squishing it flat. He grinned, "That was fun! No wonder Mario's almost always looking happy in the games!"

The girls rolled their eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Let's go."

Bowser got away as well and fled to the warp cavern. The three kids told the heroes what they were planning, and they all followed him.

"Let's get outta here!" Bowser yelled.

Ganondorf blasted the cailing over the door, sending rubble crashing to the floor. The three kids dived back into the cavern, but the others were trapped outside.

"That won't keep them out long," Ganondorf muttered. As if to prove the point, a loud _BANG _sounded on the other side, and a couple rocks shuddered.

"Hurry!" Derek called from the other side. "You can just make it!"

"Kris, Em!" Ryan hissed. "We can't let them get to our world!"

Emily gulped. "The heroes can stop them, can't they?"

Kris looked at the blocked entrance. "I don't think anyone can. Unless…" she trailed off.

"Break the machine," she said suddenly. "Of course. If we wreck the machine, then the portal will close and they won't be able to open it again!"

"But then…" Emily stopped and bit her lip for a moment. "Okay, then. Let's go."

Ryan kicked at a nearby Koopa, making it pop into its shell, and slid the shell to Kris. She stopped it with her foot like a soccer ball, then jumped on it with both feet. The shell skidded in a different direction, picking up speed. Kris cringed when she saw her aim had been of Emily kicked it in the right direction, and three things happened at once: the portal machine was blasted to pieces, Ganondorf smacked into the wall and sank to the ground, and the rubble in front of the door scattered, revealing the Gameon heroes.

"Hey!" Bowser growled. Mario grabbed his tail, spun around twice, and threw Bowser in Ganondorf's direction.

Ganondorf looked up to see Bowser flying through the air. He muttered, "Oh, no."

"Crunch time for Ganondorf!" Kris called out gleefully.

"Ooh, that…cannot be comfortable," Ryan remarked, chortling.

"Um," Emily turned to her two friends, looking uncomfortable. "You guys--"

"You three are aware of the fact that you just destroyed your only way home, right?" Samus asked.

Kris's and Ryan's smiles disappeared, replaced by a sober expression. Emily nodded. "It… looks like we're stuck here now. Maybe for good."

Kris sighed, "It was either this or having those two in our world, and I think this would be a better alternative."

"I never really thought about what we would do," Ryan said with a shrug. "I just knew we couldn't let them get loose where our other friends and families could be hurt."

Mario, Link and Samus looked at each thoughtfully.

Link said, "I guess we were wrong about you. Especially Kris. We're sorry."

Mario nodded. "Right. If there's any way we can make it up to you, we'll do it."

"Okaaay," Samus cleared her throat. "If we're done with this whole apology session thing, I feel duty-bound to remind you of the still-unsolved problem of Zelda and Peach being locked up somewhere."

"Oh," Mario and Link both blushed. "Right."

"Wow," Emily whispered. "This place is so cool."

"I know, right?" Kris replied. She glanced around at her friends. Mario and Link were leading the way, with Peach and Zelda on either side of them. Finding and rescuing them had been a piece of cake after they had beaten Ganondorf and Bowser. Kirby was walking next to Kris, and Ryan was walking between Kris and Yoshi, who had made friends with Emily very quickly and was carrying her on his back with Samus bringing up the rear.

Kris smiled and said to Mario, "Hey Mario, you know how you said if there was any way you could make up for underestimating us, you'd do it?"

"Yeah."

Kris grinned at her friends before continuing. "Well, I was thinking, maybe you guys could train us? You know, in combat?"

Ryan's eyes lit up. "Yeah! I mean, all we know how to do is stomp on Goombas and throw Koopa shells. I think there's room for improvement."

Mario, Link, Peach, Zelda and Samus all looked at each other. Samus shrugged, "I don't care as long as you kids don't go crazy in the Citadel with any weapons."

"Oh, don't worry," Emily replied, pointing at Ryan and Kris. "They're already crazy."

"Har-dee-har-har," Kris remarked.

The others laughed. Mario smiled. "Okay, it's a deal! You want to start tomorrow?"

Kris, Ryan, and Emily exchanged a glance, then answered in unison, "Sure!"

"Just one more thing," Kris spoke up.

"What's that?"

"We're allowed outside the Citadel now, right?"

Zelda laughed. "Yes, I think you earned the right to exploration."

Kris smiled, "Good." and looked up at the sky. _This won't be so bad,_ she thought._ My two best friends are here, and I'll finally get to explore this place._ She sighed quietly. _Thanks._

"Look out below!"

Her thoughts were interrupted as Pit plummeted from the sky and landed on Ryan with a crash. Kris and Yoshi jumped a foot in the air.

"PIT!" Mario, Link, Samus, and Kris all exclaimed at the same time. "What are you doing here?" Mario asked.

Pit hopped up, looking a little guilty. "I noticed Kris and Kirby were gone, so I went looking for them." He turned to Emily. "Hi, who're you?"

She smiled at him politely. "I'm Kris's friend Emily. Nice to meet you. By the way, you're standing on Kris's other friend Ryan."

"Get off me, you big heavy klutz!"

Ryan knocked Pit down onto the ground and stood up. Pit stood up as well and glared at him. "Excuse _me,_ mop-top," he snapped.

"Watch it, flyboy!" Ryan shot back. The two boys probably would have started pummeling each other right then if Mario and Link hadn't grabbed Pit and Kris and Samus hadn't grabbed Ryan. Kris rolled her eyes.

"I can see this is the start of a bee-you-tee-full friendship for you two," she quipped, not meaning a single word she said.

And that's end of the first part. I'll only upload more (because there IS more) if someone reviews. also, if they do, I promise to work on writing better action scenes! You don't even have to say it was good (though I'd prefer you did)!


	3. Making Friends with Monkeys

Yep, the kids start training. And Ryan goes on a wild adventure. Please forgive me if he looks bad. He gets cool again in the next chapter.

Disclaimer: If you recognize something from a game, it's not mine. Don't sue me, I'd like to get through college first.

Kris stood facing her opponent in the wide, high-ceilinged room that reminded her of a dojo she had seen in a martial-arts movie. The challenger wielded a sword and shield; Kris had only her hands, her feet, and her wits. She clenched her fists and swallowed hard. _Here we go._

She made the first move and threw a punch. He blocked it with his shield, sending a shock wave streaking through her knuckles. She shook her hand in pain. '_Okay, now that was just stupid._ _Stupid, stupid, stupid!'_

The other fighter lunged forward, swinging his sword. To avoid it, Kris dropped to her hands and knees and popped back up almost effortlessly. She jumped up, planted both feet on his chest, and backflipped out of range. Kris landed in a crouch, less gracefully than she would have liked, but she was now at a safe distance and she could tell her opponent was surprised. 'Heh! _He should be! I've been working on that for the last week!'_

He recovered quickly and charged again. Still in a crouch, Kris pounced at his legs, toppling him, and was back on her feet in two seconds. She caught her breath and stepped closer, gazing down at him and knowing he wasn't done.

He proved her right by trying to catch her off guard and slashing at her feet. But Kris had known he would try to pull that move and stomped on his wrist as it came, forcing him to let go of his sword. In one quick move, Kris snatched it off the ground, planted one foot on his shield and the other on his chest, effectively pinning him to the ground, and pointed the blade at his throat. She grinned.

"Not bad for an Earth kid, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, you won. Now give me back my sword, let me up, and stop rubbing it in."

"First, promise me no tricks."

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, no tricks. I promise."

Kris raised an eyebrow, but dropped the sword next to him and jumped back a few paces.

Link picked up his sword and climbed to his feet. "You've improved, Kris," he commented. "I wasn't even expecting that one move."

Kris beamed. "Thanks. I know. I've been working on that in my spare time. Do you think that would work with a real enemy?" She was glad he didn't mention her first move.

Link shrugged. "Maybe, if he's the right height."

"Alright!" Kris's friend Ryan exclaimed, "That was so cool! You gotta teach me that!"

She smiled. "Okay. As long as you show me that place you were so excited about yesterday."

"Deal!" They did a high-five.

Kris, Ryan, and their friend Emily used to live a normal life in an Earth neighborhood and often played video games together. But one day, when Kris had been joking that she could give the villains pointers because they were doing such a horrible job, a man named Derek, who was working for said villains, had taken her seriously and kidnapped her to the video game world of Gameon for Ganondorf and Bowser, who had been hoping to use her knowledge to their advantage. When she got away, they had kidnapped Ryan and later Emily arrived as well. The three of them had gotten stuck here with no way home and now lived in Gameon Citadel, where the royalty of Gameon and its realms gathered, and trained for combat.

Kris brushed her fingers through her dark short hair and shook her head, letting it fall back into its usual messy clumps. Training could be exhausting, especially in simulated battles. '_I need to get in better shape, or I'm going to be toast on my first mission.'_

She turned to Ryan and Emily, who was sitting on a low wall not far away. "Okay, I've done my turn. Who's next?"

* * *

Ryan waved back at Kris. "Hurry up! It's over here!"

Kris scrambled over some fallen branches and yelped, "Ouch!" as her foot banged against a rock.

"Hey, Ryan," she called, now half-running and half-hopping on one foot. "Unless this place is going to get up and walk away, can't we slow down a bit?"

"We're almost there!" Ryan wasn't really noticing anything besides landmarks pointing him the way. "It's just up ah-AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

His foot slipped on something and he fell flat on his back with a thud. He found himself sliding down something impossibly slick into a long, dark tunnel.

Kris stood where she had seen Ryan going down, shocked. Then she turned and ran for the Citadel.

Ryan slid through the tunnel's twists and turns, terrified. He'd stopped screaming five minutes ago, since it wasn't making him go any slower. He finally saw a circle of light go steadily bigger…and he was flying through empty air. He hit the ground with a thud and lay there, stunned. A monkey wearing a red baseball cap popped into view.

"Wa-hah!" Ryan exclaimed in surprise. The monkey screeched and jumped around, equally surprised. Ryan sat up and studied the monkey. '_I think that's Diddy Kong!'_

Diddy Kong scampered away, and Ryan looked around. There were trees and flowering vines everywhere. '_If Diddy Kong's here, then this must be Kongo Jungle.'_

"ROOOOAARRRR!"

_Gulp._ "And that… must be Donkey Kong," Ryan muttered, his voice squeaking slightly.

His theory was confirmed that very minute. A huge brown gorilla in a red necktie crashed through the foliage and landed right in front of Ryan, making the ground under the boy shake. Not that the boy wasn't shaking as well. Ryan finally scrambled to his feet and ran away.

* * *

"He what?"

"He slipped and fell on something and vanished. That's all I know." Kris shrugged, looking around at her friends. They all looked worried. Mario frowned.

"Could you lead us there?"

"Yeah!" Kris nodded and darted out the door, with Emily, Mario, Link, and Kirby close behind her.

* * *

Ryan raced through the forest as fast as his legs could carry him. He spotted a tree and scrambled to what he deemed a safe height, where he sat and gasped for breath. Donkey Kong followed, but his size put him at a disadvantage before he could reach the boy, so he just started shaking the tree.

Ryan groaned and hugged the trunk. He was starting to get tree sick. He looked up and spotted a ripe bunch of bananas hanging over his head. He slid up just an inch higher and plucked the clump.

"Hey, Donkey Kong! You hungry?" He called down, holding out the bananas. Donkey Kong's eyes lit up, and he grabbed the bunch and climbed down to the ground. Once he was gone, Ryan cautiously climbed down so he could see the ground. DK was splitting the bananas with Diddy Kong, who hopped up and down, shrieking in delight and clapping both his hands and feet. '_Okay, that's weird.'_ Ryan decided it was safe to get back on the ground. As long as they didn't notice him.

They did.

Diddy Kong jumped on Ryan's shoulders and wrapped his long hairy arms around Ryan's forehead. Ryan just couldn't take it anymore.

"HELP! THERE'S A MONKEY ON MY HEAD!"

"If this is how you handle a crisis, no wonder your friends are so worried about you."

"Huh?"

Ryan looked around, completely forgetting about Diddy Kong. He hadn't been expecting an answer. No one was within sight. He thought carefully. The voice had been female, but low and husky. He thought of all the video game characters he knew about that were female, then narrowed it down to characters who might have that kind of voice. He could come up with only one. '_If it's her, I probably won't be seeing her if she doesn't want me to.'_

"You still have a monkey on your head, you know," the character told him from somewhere else, a hint of wry amusement in her voice.

Right on cue, Diddy Kong screeched, and Ryan jumped two feet in the air, shaking his head and flailing his arms like he was having some kind of seizure. Once he stopped, Diddy Kong slipped right off, teetered in a few circles and sat down, looking dizzy from his wild little ride. Ryan looked around.

"Are you still around?" he asked. "Say yes if you are."

"And what if I'm not?"

Ryan shrugged. "Well, you're here now, aren't you? Come on out."

"No."

"Why not?"

Ryan suddenly found himself pinned to a tree trunk by the right sleeve of his T-shirt and heard the sound of footsteps walking away. He turned and stretched his neck so he could see how he was stuck. '_Needles! So it _was_ her!'_

The needles were each about three inches long and a little slippery, but Ryan managed to pull them all out and free himself. Diddy Kong was still there, watching him. Ryan smiled. "Maybe you're not such a bad little guy at all."

He held out his hand for a handshake. Diddy Kong shook Ryan's hand and Donkey Kong approached. Ryan gulped and his knees knocked against each other, but he stayed in one place and his mouth stayed shut. Donkey Kong held out his huge hand. Ryan stared at it, his first thought being that it looked like it could squish his head like a grape. But then Ryan realized that Donkey Kong meant to shake hands too. Ryan grinned and shook hands with the big gorilla.

* * *

"Here. He went down right around here," Kris pointed at the place Ryan had slipped. Mario bent down and looked at it carefully. Kris and Emily looked at Link quizzically, but he just shrugged.

"Aha!" Mario suddenly exclaimed, surprising everyone. "Looks like a warp zone."

"What's that?" Emily asked.

"A warp zone is a tunnel or door that transports someone from one region to another," Link explained. "Usually the two places are pretty far apart."

"So warp zones are shortcuts," Kris said. "Do they always lead to the same place?"

The Gameon heroes nodded. "Okay, then, let's go." Before anyone could stop her, Kris had jumped forward and disappeared into the dark tunnel.

Emily and Kirby looked at Mario and Link, who looked at each other and shrugged.

"Guess we'll have to follow her," Mario remarked.

* * *

Kris slid through the tunnel silently. She thought she was ready for anything, but when she was flung into empty space, she yelled in surprise. She hit the ground with a thump and quickly rolled to the side in time to avoid becoming the base of an awkward pile. Mario landed beside her, then Link fell on him, followed by Emily, and finally Kirby, who just bounced off the top of the pile. Kris grinned at him and watched Emily get up. Mario shoved Link off and stood up.

"Well, what do you know?" Mario remarked. "We're in Kongo Jungle!"

"Hey, cool!" Kris exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

"This is where Donkey Kong lives?" Emily asked.

"You guessed it," Link answered, brushing clingy dirt and leaves off his tunic. He shook his head. "Let's hope he remembers when we helped him get his banana stash back from Bowser."

Kris and Emily each raised an eyebrow. "Long story," he added quickly.

The girls exchanged a glance and shrugged. Kris asked, "Why should we hope he remembers, um, that?"

Mario answered, "He's very territorial. If you just show up in this jungle without being on his good side, he'll get really mad. And trust me, you don't want him mad."

Kris and Emily nodded in full agreement. They had seen him in the video games. And, really, who wanted to have _any _hugegorilla mad at them?

"The only way to get on his good side," Link said. "is--"

"Bananas?" Emily guessed.

They both looked surprised for a minute, then Link resumed, "Yeah, you guessed it. Again. So then--"

"You guys should really be on his good side, what with that whole banana-stash thing you won't talk about." Kris interrupted.

Link stared at her icily. "Yes. And…" he paused and he and Mario looked at Emily. She spread out her palms. "What?"

"Wait a sec," Kris cut in suddenly. "Ryan must be here, if he came through the warp tunnel. What if he runs into Donkey Kong?"

"Or, more likely, he already has," Mario said. "What do you think he'd do if he ran into a giant gorilla?"

"Scream and run like a maniac," Emily answered right away.

"That's not good."

"No, really." Kris quipped. "Let's go find him before he gets pounded into the ground."

* * *

Bowser grumbled as he stomped through his and Ganondorf's lair. He noticed the wreckage of the portal machine, snarled, and lunged at it, giving the metal a good long pounding until it looked impossible that it had ever functioned as any sort of machine. Ganondorf stood nearby with his arms folded, watching.

When his partner had finished venting his anger on the remains of the machine, he told him, "If you're done pointlessly denting metal, I would like to remind you that we are trying to garner our energy rather than use it to beat up inanimate objects that are already broken."

"I DON'T WANT TO SAVE ENERGY!! I WANNA DESTROY STUFF!"

Ganondorf took a moment to remind himself that "calm" was nowhere to be found in Bowser's vocabulary and answered, "We've been through this routine before. We just have to wait for their guard to come down."

Bowser growled, but turned and stomped toward a different cavern. Ganondorf turned to a screen that showed a map of Gameon. He understood how Bowser felt. He had been so close to finally dispatching Link, and then that impertinent girl and her two friends had shown up with the other heroes and ruined everything, with the destruction of the portal machine as the final mockery. '_Those three brats have to go,'_ he decided. '_They'll only get in the way.'_

He paused thoughtfully. Bowser was clearly angry at anything in general, and he could easily destroy their lair if something irked him. He smiled his "a perfectly nasty idea has just struck my mind" smile.

"Bowser, how would you like to take a trip to Kongo Jungle?"

* * *

Ryan gulped. He held a vine in both hands and peered down at the ground below. Just far down enough to really hurt if he fell. He frowned, "You know what? I just decided I don't want to do this. I like myself just fine without a body cast. You two were lucky to get me this high."

Diddy Kong looked up at him for a minute, then jumped on the branch, making it sway under Ryan's feet. He gulped again, "I know what you're trying. It isn't gonna work." Donkey Kong dropped down onto the branch as well. Ryan grimaced as the branch began to bend lower than ever.

"You two are just evil, you know that?" His feet slipped off and he swung through the forest. "WHOAAHH!!"

Meanwhile, Mario, Link, Kris, Kirby and Emily walked through the jungle and stopped for a brief rest. Mario spoke, "Well, we haven't seen or heard anything from Ryan or Donkey Kong. That could be good news."

"Or bad news," Kris added. "Depending on how you look at it."

At that moment Ryan swung by on his vine right behind them and away into the jungle. Kirby was the only one who noticed and turned around to stare up at Ryan.

Emily sighed. "Come on, Kris. Ryan's sort of a smart kid. He could have figured out how to keep Donkey Kong from beating him into a pulp."

Kris snorted. "Ryan? Please. Remember the lunch tray incident?"

"Ooh, right. I forgot about that."

Link frowned. "What are you talking about?"

As Kris and Emily replied in unison, "Long story," Ryan swung past again. He tried to get their attention, but again, Kirby was the only one to notice.

"Okay," Kris muttered. "So where do we look now?"

"I think--" Link began.

"I think over here!" Ryan yelled. The vine had slowed its swinging, but he wasn't letting go and simply hung there, turning slow circles. The four turned and saw him, finally.

"Ryan!" Emily exclaimed. "Where did you come from?" She eyed the vine but didn't say anything about that.

He let go and pointed up into the trees once he was on the ground. "Up there. They made me go." They looked and saw Diddy Kong on the branch and Donkey Kong right under it clapping their hands as if Ryan had just finished a flawless acrobatic performance. _Yeah. Riiiiight._

Kris sighed. "This question just asks itself, but I feel I must ask it anyway…Why?"

Ryan shrugged. "Beats me. For fun?" _Sick fun, _he thought to himself.

"So you've made friends with them?" Mario asked. "No running or screaming?"

Ryan let go of the vine and scratched the back of his head nervously. "Uhh…no?"

"You just handed them a bunch of bananas, no sweat?" Kris pressed.

"Umm… yeah, no sweat…"

Kris and Emily struck an identical pose: arms crossed, one eyebrow raised, and a half-smirk. Ryan was such a horrible liar.

"Okay, so I might have panicked just a little bit. But I survived, right? Isn't that what counts?"

Kris knew he was just trying to get off the hook. She decided to be nice and let him off…mostly. She returned her arms to her sides and put her hands on her hips. "Well, why don't you tell us the whole story?"

So Ryan told them about his first meeting with Diddy Kong, his getting chased up a tree by Donkey Kong, and his brief encounter with the mysterious character who had refused to show her face. When he finished, the four looked thoughtful.

"So then she was here, at least," Link remarked.

"Who was?" Kris asked.

Link pretended she hadn't said anything. "Well, we've found Ryan, who has apparently made a couple new friends. I think we could head back now."

"Uh…" The three kids exchanged a glance. "Okay."

Mario turned around and stopped short. "I'm not so sure about that."

"Why?"

Mario pointed. They all looked, and their eyes widened.

"_LOOK OUT!!"_

Everyone dove for cover just as something huge and heavy crashed into the place where they had just been standing.

"Graaaaah!"

"Bowser!" Mario yelled. "Here?!"

Link drew his sword and gestured for the kids to stay back, at least for the moment. He, Mario, and Kirby all jumped forward to fight Bowser while the kids crouched in the dense foliage nearby and peered between the leaves and branches.

Kris scowled and clenched her fist as she watched the battle. "There has to be something we can do, guys."

Diddy Kong chattered from right above their heads. They looked up in time to each catch a piece of fruit they didn't recognize. Ryan frowned at the one in his hand, looked up at the monkey dangling from a tree branch by his tail and asked, "What's _this _for?"

Diddy Kong chattered some more, made the motion of throwing with his arm, and pointed at Bowser with the other arm.

Kris nodded slowly and grinned. "Aahhhhh..."

She tossed the fruit up, caught it, pulled back her arm, and let it fly.

_SPLAT!_

It struck Bowser's snout and splattered all over his face. He yelled, "Hey! Who did that?!"

Ryan scrambled around to the other side of the clearing and chucked his fruit.

_SPLAT!_

This time it hit one of Bowser's horns. He spun around madly, trying to find the culprit. "Stop that!"

Kris stifled a snicker and glanced at Emily. She wasn't throwing her fruit. Kris frowned curiously. Emily was instead climbing up a tree. This wasn't like Kris's reasonable, sensible friend who never did anything crazy.

"What're you doing?" she hissed.

"Watch and learn." Emily smiled and plucked another fruit. Putting it in her pocket, Emily then reached for a vine and, after studying it carefully, tied the end to the stem of the fruit. Then she lobbed her other fruit to Ryan, who surprisingly caught it and did the same as what Emily had done. Then both held their fruits up, and Emily tossed another fruit and gestured to Kris, who by now had caught on to their plan. She leaped out of hiding right in view of Bowser, clutching the fruit.

Bowser roared. "You!" He stomped in her direction and Kris threw the fruit. It sailed by Bowser's head without so much as grazing it.

"Ha! You missed!"

Kris waved both hands to her sides. Emily and Ryan released their fruit bouquets and watched them swing.

They both slammed into Bowser's head and sent juice flying everywhere.

"Bull's-eye!" The three kids yelled in unison, and the Gameon heroes collapsed in laughter.

Bowser roared and shook the remains of the fruit off his head. He lunged at Kris.

"Uh-oh." She turned and bolted, darting away through the trees. Ryan and Emily jumped to the ground and joined her.

Bowser tried to chase the kids, but Mario, Link, and Kirby managed to stop him for only a minute before he knocked them aside.

* * *

Kris and her friends raced through the jungle until they were totally exhausted. Emily looked around.

"Okay, now that I think of it, that probably wasn't the best idea any of us has had."

"What?" Kris asked. "The fruit? That was brilliant!

"No, I mean, do we even know where we are?"

Ryan looked around. "I know I don't."

"Well, that's just great," Kris mumbled. "Now what do we do?"

"Ahehehe."

"YAHHHHH!" The three kids jumped up and cried out.

"Was that a…laugh?" Ryan asked quietly.

"I think it was," Emily said. "Creepy."

"Who's there?" Kris called out boldly. If something scared her, she rarely let it show. "We heard you laugh; we know you're there. Come out."

"Uh, Kris, I'm not sure…" Ryan cautioned her, remembering what had happened to him.

"Shh!"

The three of them listened for a long moment. "It's gone," Emily murmured. "At least, I think so. You think it was the same person Ryan met?"

"Who cares?" Kris snapped. Ryan and Emily raised their hands. "Okay, you do, but does it matter?"

"If it is the person Ryan met, then we at least have an idea of who she is," Emily pointed out. "And she's probably a friend."

"Or ally," Ryan cut in, holding up the shirt sleeve with which he had been pinned to a tree. "Not sure if we can call her a 'friend' yet. Or ever."

Kris sighed. "Okay, fine. But let's face it. We're lost."

Ryan and Emily frowned and nodded.

_CRASH! CRUNCH! CRASH!_

Their eyes widened. "Here he comes!"

"I will help you."

Kris turned and gasped. A tall, lean and muscled figure stood in the shadows of a tree. Kris squinted. She looked like… Kris turned back to her friends. They saw her too.

'_It's her,' _Ryan thought, and his right arm quivered.

"You'll help us?" Emily asked.

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Then there you have it."

Bowser roared, closer. Kris shuddered. "Well, we sure need you to help! There's no way we can take him ourselves!" Clearly, she was desperate.

Bowser burst into sight. The shadowed figure shot forward with a flying kick and knocked him back onto his shell. She turned and gestured.

"All right, I got him down for you. Do what you want. He's all yours."

Now the kids could all see clearly and without a doubt who she was, but they knew now wasn't the time to acknowledge it. Kris smiled and stepped closer. Bowser was waving his arms and legs wildly. She knew he was going to get to his feet again eventually, and then he would really be mad.

She gestured to Ryan and Emily. They had practiced battling as a trio in formation several times and knew what to do. Soon they stood around Bowser so that they formed a triangle. Bowser finally got to his feet and looked around at the three kids.

He lunged at Kris. She jumped into the air and executed a tae-kwon-do kick that landed on his snout. Bowser grabbed his snout in pain and staggered backwards. Ryan was closer and kicked his shell. His foot passed right between the spikes and Bowser toppled over. He jumped to his feet and snarled, "All right, that's it!"

He blew out a huge fireball at Kris, then whirled to fire another at Ryan. Emily grasped a small rock, aimed, and threw it at Bowser's head with all her strength.

_CLUNK!_

Bowser stumbled this way and that way dizzily before he finally dropped like a boulder. Ryan whistled,"Nice arm." Kris pulled the edge of her T-shirt out to look at the singe mark Bowser's breath had caused and turned to smile at her friends.

"Wow," Mario's voice remarked. They spun around to see the Gameon heroes step out of the foliage.

"Impressive," Link congratulated them. "Never really believed three Earth kids could beat Bowser without help. And don't say anything about that 'Earth kid' thing." Kirby, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong nodded eagerly.

"But we didn't!" Ryan protested, though all three of them were puffing up proudly.

"Yeah," Kris added. "She--" Kris turned to gesture toward their new friend - or ally- but frowned when she saw that she had vanished. "She's gone."

"Who's gone?"

Emily answered, "Sheik. She helped us, but now she's disappeared."

Link nodded. "She does that. If you're going to live here, you'll have to get used to it. Shall we go now?"

Kris and Ryan stepped forward, but Emily paused. "Wait a minute. Shouldn't we take care of him first?" She pointed at Bowser.

Mario turned to Donkey Kong with a grin. "DK, will you do the honors?"

The big gorilla nodded, lumbered toward the conked-out Bowser, wound up, and unleashed a mighty punch that sent the ugly turtle flying into the air and out of the jungle.

"How's that?" Mario asked.

The three kids collapsed on the ground laughing. "That'll work," Kris gasped out.

After Ryan told the Kongs good-bye, they all prepared to return to Gameon Citadel.

"There's just one problem," Emily pointed out. "We came through a warp tunnel. How do we get back from here now? We can't just climb back up the tunnel."

Mario smiled. "Between the three of us," He gestured at Link and Kirby. "We know enough shortcuts to get us back to the Citadel in almost the same amount of time as the warp tunnel."

Kris smiled. "Cool! Then let's go."

* * *

Back at the Citadel, Mario and Link related the whole thing to everyone else at the citadel. Kris couldn't help but notice that Marth simply rolled his eyes. 'Looks like _he's not impressed by much,' _she thought, and suddenly noticed that it sounded like a challenge. '_I do love a challenge,'_ she thought with a smile.

The following morning, Kris was trying to teach Ryan the move he had asked her to teach him. Unfortunately, it wasn't going too well.

"Okay, so you jump up," Kris repeated slowly for the third time, "plant your feet on the target, then flip." She demonstrated on a pillar.

"Okay." Ryan tried, but wound up facedown on the floor. "How was that?" he asked.

Kris chuckled as she bent over to help him up and answered, "Needs work. But you're making progress."

"Slowly but surely." Both kids turned to see Mario walking up.

"What're you here for?" Ryan asked.

"Find Emily and--"

"Here!" Emily rushed up. "Now what?"

"Follow me."

The three kids followed him to a room that none of them had stumbled on. Of course, they knew the Citadel was a big place, but they were still surprised that they hadn't come across this one.

"What's this?" Kris asked, looking around. All over the place were weapons - every weapon ever invented, it seemed.

"The weapons room," Mario answered. "We decided it was time you got your own."

"Our own weapons room?" Ryan exclaimed in amazement.

The other three gave him an odd look.

"I meant your own _weapons_," Mario corrected him.

"Oh," Ryan sounded disappointed. "That's still cool."

"Emily first," Mario walked over to a rack and picked up a Super Scope gun. "You're best at long-range. You have a good eye, and this is easiest to aim with."

Emily took the gun and held it to her shoulder, pretending to aim. Then she looked it over and smiled approval.

"Ryan, for you we decided this would be all you need. You're really good at hand-to-hand combat." Mario handed him a quarterstaff.

"Cool!" Ryan had his enthusiasm back now as he moved through several different poses with the staff.

Mario picked up something hidden. "And Kris," he concluded. "This is yours."

He held out a glowing blue beam sword. Kris's eyes widened and she smiled.

"Wow! Awesome! I've always wanted to use one of these!" She swung it, and the blade grew a foot longer.

Mario ducked and clutched his hat while Ryan and Emily jumped back. "Careful with that, though!"

"Sorry."

Mario cleared his throat. "Why don't you go practice with those in the training room where nothing can get broken?"

"Right!" The three ran out and back to the training room to get used to their new weapons.

* * *

Zelda leaned against the side of a window overlooking the training room and watched the kids practice. Link approached and she turned to talk to him.

"You should be proud."

"Huh? Of what?"

"Of them." She nodded toward the training room below. "You taught them a lot of what they know."

"Well…" Link started to blush a little. He usually did when the princess complimented him. "I didn't really teach them much. They mostly taught themselves, to tell the truth. I just helped."

Zelda smiled at him and turned to watch the kids again. "They're not just a few Earth children," she said. "They could be heroes one day. Like you." She went a little pink and quickly cleared her throat. "And Mario and others, of course."

Link nodded. "I don't doubt that for a minute."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ryan attempted a pole-vault with his new staff. He hardly made it to the peak and then fell back down too fast to catch himself. Kris and Emily ran to help him and tried to keep straight faces. Ryan groaned as he got up slowly.

"Ooh, that's still gonna be here tomorrow," he remarked, rubbing a sore spot in his back.

"Keep trying," Kris patted his back lightly. "You might get it."

"You know," Emily spoke up. "We're both surprised that you were able to keep your cool in the jungle."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Ah, come on. I'm not that dumb."

"Almost, not quite," Kris piped up. Her friends both turned to glare at her. "Hey, I was kidding!"

"My point is," Emily told Ryan. "It looks like we're learning new stuff about each other."

"Yeah," Kris agreed. "Like that thing with the fruit. It didn't really seem like the kind of thing you'd do, Em."

"Now _that_ was priceless!" Ryan laughed at the memory and the girls joined in.

"Okay," Kris lifted her sword. "You gonna use that as a walking stick or a weapon?"

"A weapon," Ryan answered. "Why?"

"Hi-yah!" Kris swung her sword in his direction, forcing Ryan to use his quarterstaff to block it. "Why don't you try that out on a real opponent?" she asked with a challenging glint in her eye.

"I would if I could, but I guess I'll just have to settle for you," Ryan shot back.

"Clever. So you think I'm not a real challenge? Don't forget, I beat Link with my two hands!"

"Aww, he was just going easy on you."

"Oho, it's on now!" Kris laughed. "You're going _down_!"

Emily stepped back and watched. "Some things just don't change."

* * *

Ha, that was fun. Sorry, no Goomba-stomping. Maybe in the next chapter I'm working on. Ryan plays an important part in the next chapter(which is done,but I'm not posting it for a while; I'm trying to pace myself), but he whacks Waddle Dees instead. Review please!


	4. Dreamon!

Another one that focuses on Ryan, who is a little more heroic this time around. And in case you haven't noticed, he and Pit don't get along too well.

Disclaimer: If I owned a video game franchise, I wouldn't be writing HERE, now would I?

"Hey, Em! Throw it over here!" Kris yelled, waving her arms above her head. Emily threw the ball past Ryan and Kris barely caught it. Ryan whirled to try and grab the ball from her, but Kris spun away from him and called out, "Kirby!"

The pink ball turned and held up his stubby little arms, hopping from foot to foot. Kris lobbed it…Kirby opened his mouth wide…and swallowed it.

"KIRBY!" The kids yelled in unison, exasperated.

"You weren't supposed to eat the ball!" Ryan scolded him. "You were supposed to catch it and run with it! Remember? We explained it to you three times!" Kirby looked back up at him blankly. Kris sighed and shrugged.

"Let's just face it. He's a total airhead," She grinned at him. "Right, Kirby?"

Kirby hopped up and down, smiling. That was his way of saying yes. Kris could get him to agree to anything.

"Hey, guys!" The three kids looked up to see a boy with feathery wings and a white toga land in an awkward somersault nearby.

"Hi, Pit!" Kris and Emily called as he climbed to his feet.

"Smooth landing, flyboy!" Ryan greeted him with a smirk. Pit scowled at him before addressing the three of them.

"Something's going on at the Citadel. They're planning a mission. Come on!" He turned and leaped into the air while the other four followed on the ground.

* * *

Link, Ness, and Samus were just about to leave when they showed up.

"Hey, what's up?" Kris asked.

"I thought you guys were off playing some game," Ness said. He did not look pleased to see them. _Yeah, well, the feeling's mutual,_ Kris thought. She got along with Ness about as well as Ryan got along with Pit.

"We were, but then Kirby swallowed the ball," Ryan replied, tossing one last scowl in his direction. Kirby smiled.

"Well," Samus shrugged. "You are what you eat."

Everyone looked at Kirby - undoubtedly the roundest resident of Gameon Citadel and probably all of Gameon - and laughed in agreement. Emily brought them back to the subject at hand. "So, what's going on? Pit said something was up."

"We're going on a mission to Dreamland--"

"Can we come?" Kris's words were out almost before she even opened her mouth.

Ness rolled his eyes. "I knew she was gonna say that," he muttered. Nobody acknowledged his statement.

"Yeah, can we?" Ryan asked eagerly. "Don't forget how great we did fighting Bowser in Kongo Jungle. And we didn't even have our weapons or any help then! Think how great we'd do now!"

Link raised an eyebrow. "You said Sheik helped you."

Emily and Kris glared momentarily at Ryan and returned to trying to win their case. "Yeah, but all she did was knock him over and buy us some time," Kris answered. "We did everything else ourselves."

"Well…"

"Please?" They asked in unison, staring at him with large puppy-dog eyes, or, in Ryan's case, the closest thing he could get.

"Fine, you can come," Link relented, and paused as the kids whooped and high-fived each other in delight. "Do you have your weapons?"

"Yep," Kris patted the pouch attached to her hip, from which a blue-and-silver metallic sword hilt protruded.

"Uh-huh," Emily held up her Super Scope.

"Probably won't need it," Ryan held up both fists in a fighting position.

Link rolled his eyes. "In other words, you lost it again."

"Well…yeah." Pit, Kris, and Emily gulped back a laugh.

"Alright, let's go. All four of you. Pit stays here."

* * *

Kris walked alongside Link and Kirby. _These_ _missions really aren't everything they're cracked up to be, _she thought_._ Ness was busy chattering on and on about something only he cared about and wearing on the nerves of all his companions, except for maybe Kirby. Kris doubted he had nerves.

_I swear, if I have to keep hearing all this nonsense, my head is going to explode!_ she thought, gritting her teeth.

They were in Dreamland by now. Kris looked around at the brightly colored landscape and noticed a small trail leading away into the shadowy foliage. Noticing that Link was too busy enduring Ness's unending lecture and knowing Kirby wouldn't say anything, she slipped off down the trail. Only Emily noticed and followed without letting the others know.

Once Ness's voice had faded into the distance and she could make out her own thoughts again, Kris gave a deep sigh of relief. _At last! _

But then Emily caught up with her. "Kris!" she snapped. "How many times do you have to have someone tell you? We have absolutely no idea where in the world we are. What if they don't know we're gone?"

Kris sighed. "I just couldn't take Ness anymore. What the heck was he even talking about anyway? We'll catch up with them again once they reach the action."

Emily shook her head. "No, we're going back _now_, Kris. We probably won't be able to find them later."

"Okay, okay, fine." Kris mumbled and started to head back to the path with Emily. Sometimes she could be worse than a mother. Then something caught her eye.

"Hey, what's that?" She jogged in its direction.

"Kris…" Emily groaned and followed. "You have the attention span of a ferret, you know that?" Kris ignored that comment and stood in front of a carving of a beaked, clearly non-human face. She reached out to touch it when Emily spoke up.

"Kris, don't forget, we're in a video game world."

"So?"

"So, didn't you pay any attention to any of the games when we played them? If you're not careful, _anything_ could be a trap!"

"Again, so? If it is, we can handle it." Kris touched the carving. It slid back sharply at her touch, and Kris found herself falling forward with a cry. Emily grabbed her ankle and was simply dragged down into the darkness along with her friend.

* * *

"Kris?" Ryan turned around. "Emily?"

"What is it?" Link asked.

"Kris and Emily aren't here," Ryan answered.

"Uh-oh."

Ryan looked around. _Figures,_ he thought. _Kris gets out of here first chance she gets, and Emily goes to bring her back. _ Not that he'd admit it, but he wished he'd thought of that himself.

* * *

Kris opened her eyes and sat up with a groan. Her head hurt, and everything was so dark she couldn't see anything farther than a few inches away from her face. She had no idea where she was. Then it all came back to her.

She gasped and looked around quickly for Emily. But it looked like she was all alone. In a dungeon. _Well, this just gets better and better, doesn't it?_ She thought sarcastically.

A door-hinge creaked somewhere, and Kris turned to face it as a door opened, letting in a bright stream of light. Kris blinked rapidly to get her eyes used to the abrupt change. A small round creature called a Waddle Dee entered, followed closely by what looked like a penguin. A really fat, blue penguin in ridiculous red robes.

"Hello, King Dedede."

He looked surprised. "How'd ya know me?"

Kris rolled her eyes and shrugged nonchalantly. "My friends told me about you," she replied.

"Where's my friend?" she demanded.

"Oh, you wanna know, do ya?"

Kris squinted at him. "Why would I ask you if I didn't?"

"She's locked up somewhere else."

"Why did you kidnap us?"

"Well, everyone does that."

"That's it?" Kris blinked. _Wow, he's as dumb as I thought he would be._

"Also, this is Kirby's place. Any minute now, he'll be prancin' along here to help you, and then I'm gonna squash 'im."

_Okay, so he isn't quite as dumb as I thought. But he's still pretty dumb._ She shrugged and said out loud, "I doubt you'll win. Since when did the bad guy win?"

"Just you wait," King Dedede pointed at her as he started to turn to leave. "I've got a foolproof way to beat Kirby!" The door slammed shut and Kris was alone again.

"Yeah, that's what they all say."

"I heard that!"

* * *

Ryan groaned. "What do we do now?"

"Let's split up," Link answered. "Ryan, you go east with Kirby. He knows this place best. I'll search to the north."

"Where do _I_ go?" Ness snapped, sounding miffed at not being counted.

"South, with Samus."

Samus gave Link a "you-did-this-to-me-on-purpose-and-you-will-regret-it" look he could no doubt feel, if not see, through her visor.

"O-kay," Ryan turned. "Let's go, Kirby."

* * *

Kris plopped down on the ground in the middle of her cell with a groan. "Pointless," she muttered. She had searched the entire dungeon cell for any way she could make an escape, but there wasn't anything she could use.

In retrospect, it may not have been the brightest thing to just walk off by herself in a place she'd never really been before. Or to disregard Emily's advice when they both knew she was usually right. _Okay, let's face it,_ she thought. _That was just stupid._

The door creaked open again. Kris looked over and saw a couple Waddle Dees wielding spears approach. They escorted her out into a throne room. She spotted Emily nearby and wanted to wave or yell or something, but one of her guards poked her in the small of her back with its spear.

"Ow! Hey, watch that thing!" she snapped. The two red creatures herded her into a small round cage and slammed the door shut, locking it. Two other Waddle Dees did the same to Emily while another Waddle Dee pulled a lever in the wall.

With a sharp jerk, the cages rose slowly but steadily off the ground. Kris's knees wobbled and she sat down cross-legged on the floor of the cage. King Dedede waltzed in, carrying his enormous wooden mallet.

"Ha! He's comin', he's comin', I _told_ ya!" he yelled up at the cages. "I told ya BOTH! Kirby's comin', and he's gonna get SQUASHED!"

Kris and Emily rolled their eyes. Of all the things King Dedede was, fear-inspiring was most definitely not one of them. "This'll be interesting," Emily told her friend. Kris nodded.

* * *

Ryan walked over a rise just behind Kirby.

"So that's King Dedede's castle, huh?"

Kirby nodded.

"You think they might have gone here?"

Kirby nodded again.

"Well, okay, then," Ryan answered doubtfully. "you know this place best."

The two friends walked down the hill toward the castle.

In just a few minutes, Ryan and Kirby had reached the castle. Kirby scampered over to stand next to a wall. Ryan dropped to a crouch and followed Kirby.

"Hey," he whispered, "Kirby, where're we going?"

Kirby stopped and thumped on a rock in the wall. The rock slid away to reveal a small tunnel.

Ryan's eyes widened. "Cool," he remarked.

Kirby walked in. Ryan groaned almost silently and crawled in after him, a quite frustrating task. While the tunnel was large enough for Kirby to walk it in easily, it also managed to be small enough so Ryan had to push and drag himself through with his elbows and knees while the rough stone walls scraped against his shoulders and upper arms. He was more than relieved when the tunnel opened up into a hallway where he could stand up.

"Where do we look first?" he asked. Kirby, as expected, didn't answer, leaving Ryan to come up with his own. "Maybe King Dedede caught them. Let's go find the dungeon."

Kirby nodded and darted off. "Hey!" Ryan cried out, then bit his tongue and cringed. He should stay quiet! What if someone found him in here? He looked around.

"That Kirby's a fast little bugger," he whispered. "Where'd he go?"

* * *

King Dedede shifted his large amount of weight restlessly. "Where is he?" He muttered. "He's taking forever."

Kris and Emily rolled their eyes for at least the tenth time. This was torture for them, too. Kris thought, _If something doesn't happen soon, I'm gonna get bored to death! How do Zelda and Peach survive this so often?_ She slumped against the bars of her cage.

A pair of Waddle Dees appeared with Ryan in tow. Kris sat straight up and leaned forward, rocking the cage back and forth. Emily's eyes grew wide.

King Dedede frowned. "You're not Kirby!" he said angrily. Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Excellent observation."

"But I bet you know where he is. Where is he?"

Ryan swallowed hard. "I don't know. Let my friends go."

"I think you do know," King Dedede snapped, walking forward with his hammer. "Where is he?"

"If I knew, I'd tell you," Ryan answered, stepping back uneasily.

"Why don't you?"

"Because I don't know! He ran off right after we sneaked in."

King Dedede growled in frustration. "Okay, that's it! You're no help!"

He raised his mallet to crush Ryan.

"Aagh!" Ryan yelped.

"Hyaaah!"

Kirby appeared from someplace unseen, wielding a smaller mallet of his own. It connected with the side of King Dedede's head and sent him into an awkward sort of cartwheel.

"Where WERE you?" Ryan asked Kirby. "Never mind, let's get the girls and get out of here!"

"Not if _I _can help it!" King Dedede shouted. "Get 'em, Waddle Doos!"

Kirby and Ryan stood back-to-back, surrounded by one-eyed Waddle Doos with the ability to zap them with a hundred volts of energy. "Oh, snap," Ryan muttered.

Kris grabbed her sword hilt and pulled it free from her belt. With an electric _bzum_, its glowing blue blade grew to the length of her arm.

_ZWSH! ZWSH! _

Kris sliced through the top, and then the bottom of one of the metal bars of her cage, cutting it loose. She took hold of it and threw it down to Ryan. "Ry! Heads up!"

Ryan looked up just in time to catch the bar. He grinned, nodded at Kris, then grasped it with both hands in a battle stance.

The Waddle Doos and Waddle Dees threw themselves at Ryan and Kirby.

Kris sliced through the rest of the bars, grabbed the top of the cage, and swung to the ground. She knocked aside the Waddle Doo guarding it, shoved up a lever, and Emily's cage dropped to the ground. A quick swipe of her sword was enough to free her.

Kirby inhaled the nearest Waddle Doo and swallowed it. In a flash, Kirby got a large jester cap and wand and starting giving the other Waddle Doos a taste of their own medicine.

Ryan kicked and executed a perfect flip with his pole. "Hey, not bad," he told himself. He knocked aside a waddle Dee, took one step to the right, and addressed the space he had just been standing. "Why, thank you."

Kris blinked and squinted at him with one eyebrow raised. "He compliments himself…and then thanks himself for the compliment." She shook her head. "That is so not cool."

"And you'd know cool," Emily smirked.

"Oh, shush," Kris teased and went to join the fight.

Emily whipped out her Super Scope and fought from the sidelines.

The four friends managed to fight off all the Waddle Dees and Waddle Doos and Kris looked around. "Hey, where's Dedede?"

Emily walked over and join them. "I guess he snuck off while we were busy fighting his minions."

"The big wuss," Kris muttered. Emily chuckled while Ryan and Kirby nodded in agreement.

"Well, now that the fight's over," Emily smiled. "Let's go find the others. They're probably looking for us, right?" she asked Ryan.

"Yep, Link went north, and Samus and Ness went south."

"So," Kris slowly reasoned. "They could be anywhere in Dreamland right now."

"Yep," Ryan cringed slightly.

"Kirby," Kris crouched down to be at eye level with him. "Could you carry all of us on the Warp Star?"

* * *

Link trudged through the forest and came to a river with square stepping stones. Jumping from rock to rock, he was just about to reach the shore when someone above him yelled, "Hey, Link!"

Startled, Link looked up and took his focus off his jump.

_SPLOOSH!_

"Oops," Kris cringed from atop the Warp Star. "Bad timing."

A dripping Link struggled onshore a little ways downstream, coughing and choking.

"Sorry!" Three kids' voices chorused.

A bright yellow star swooped low, and three kids and a pink puffball jumped to the ground and hurried to help him. He lifted his soggy blonde bangs and looked at them. "Kris! Emily! Where were you?" he exclaimed. "We've been looking all over for you."

Kris shuffled her feet. "My bad. I--"

"Confessions later," Link interrupted. "I assume you haven't found Samus and Ness."

"Not yet, no," Emily shook her head.

"We'll have to hurry," Link turned and walked at a quick pace. "Before Samus decides she's had enough and blows him up."

"So why hurry?" Kris asked, grinning.

Link, Ryan, and Emily gave her a look.

"Kidding! Just kidding! Stop looking at me like that! Sheesh."

* * *

When they did eventually find Samus and Ness, it was quite clear that Samus was seriously considering blowing him up. After somehow shutting Ness up, Kris, Ryan, and Emily told their tale in turns, Ryan making long-drawn, excruciatingly detailed epics out of his part in the adventure. After reaching the end of the battle with King Dedede's army, Emily concluded, "So I think Kris learned a little lesson."

"Lesson?" Kris blinked cluelessly. "Oh, yeah!" She smiled. "Never agree to go on a mission with Ness!"

Link and Ryan laughed, Samus snorted, and Emily shook her head and covered her eyes. "No, that's not it…"

"HEY! Don't go pinning this on me!" Ness yelled. "PK FLASH!"

Kris ducked out of the way. "Ness is super temperamental?"

"No."

"Don't leave the group unless you know they'll come looking for you?"

Emily sighed and shrugged. "Eh. Close enough. Let's go."

* * *

Back at the Citadel, their mission completed, Ryan was scouring the place for his quarterstaff.

"Where is it?" He yelled in aggravation. Kris looked over from her spot next to Kirby, where she was tossing snacks to him and watching him literally inhale them.

"Beats me," she responded. "Last I saw it, you had it. Hey, Pit!"

Pit stopped and turned. "What?"

"You seen Ryan's quarterstaff?"

"No…" Pit's nervousness gave him away.

"YES, YOU DO!" Ryan shouted. "I bet you hid it somewhere. Where?"

"You're never gonna look there, so why bother?"

Ryan tackled Pit and pinned him down. "WHERE IS IT?"

"I'm not telling _you_!"

While the two boys continued to fight and yell at each other, Kirby started acting funny. Kris looked over at him. Kirby wiggled a little, made a little noise, and spit something out. It was Ryan's quarterstaff. Kris raised her eyebrows.

"Hey, Ryan," Kris picked up his staff. "I found it."

Ryan looked up in surprise. "Oh," he climbed to his feet and took it from her. "Uh, thanks. Um…where was it?"

Kris gestured for Ryan to lean close and whispered the answer in his ear. Ryan's eyes bulged, and he turned on Pit angrily.

_"YOU FED MY QUARTERSTAFF TO KIRBY?"_

Pit shrugged. "I said you'd never look there."

Ryan chased Pit outside. Kris and Kirby went to a window and watched as Pit jumped into the air and hovered just out of reach, laughing as Ryan kept trying to jump up and grab or hit him.

"Things just don't get boring around here," Kris quipped. "I really like this place."

* * *

Haha, loved writing that last part. I apologize for the repeated lack of Goomba-stomping. I'll try to get some in the next chapter, WHICH will probably be up sometime in the next year. I've got school and junk right now, plus three other projects. If I get reviews, I MIGHT be motivated to work on getting it done quicker.


	5. Don't go Dare pt 1

YES! FINALLY uploaded another chapter for this one. I had such writer's block for this. Hopefully it's over now and I can write again.

Disclaimer: I only own Kris, Ryan, and Emily.

Kris Thomas had certainly dealt with tough things before, like getting kidnapped into a world of video games with no conceivable way home and getting lost in a jungle with a crazed mutant fire-breathing turtle-thing chasing her. But now, Kris was about to be brought to her knees by a simple thing: Ryan and his newly enlarged head.

With eyes glazed, Kris, Pit and Emily slumped in the kind of exhaustion you get from having to listen to the same thing over and over for days. Meanwhile, Ryan was busy relating to them his exploits in their last big adventure…again.

"What part is he at now?" Emily whispered.

"Dunno," Kris answered. "It all just morphed into blaaaaah, blaaaaah, blah."

"At least he's not quizzing us," Pit answered.

"-and then I saw the bar flying at me - probably a weak attempt to stop me - grabbed it, and used it to wipe out all the waddle Dees and Waddle Doos around me."

_That is __not__ what happened, _Kris rolled her eyes. There was no point in trying to correct him. Kris sighed and let her head flop downward. _Okay, I can _not_ take any more of this now. Not without hurting somebody._

Kris sat up, ignoring the wave of dizziness it had given her. "Alrighty then, if the great conquering hero would please shut up now…"

"Yes, what?"

"Let's train." She snatched up his quarterstaff and threw it at him. He caught it easily and thanked her, which only infuriated her. Emily saw the flash in her eyes and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Down, girl," she whispered. "Deep breaths."

Kris huffed in and out, refusing to calm down. Emily shook her head. This was not going to be pretty.

* * *

Kris slashed downward with her sword. Ryan blocked the blow with his staff, then released it with one hand, swinging over his head in a circle. Kris's darting eyes saw it coming and ducked, coming up with a kick aimed at Ryan's chest. Ryan jumped back and swung his staff around again. All Kris knew was a sharp pain in her side and she hit the ground a second later.

She scowled up at the boy, who grinned and started singing his own praises all over again. Kris clenched her fists.

_The one thing I hate more than a bragger, _she thought. _is a bragger who's _right_._

* * *

Another week of this torture, and Kris, Pit, and even Emily were all just about ready to strangle Ryan. During another retelling of Ryan's heroics, Kris, whose muscles had been growing tenser and tenser, finally flipped out.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE SUCH A BIG, BRAVE, GREAT HERO!" She yelled at him. "WELL THEN, WHY DON'T YOU GO DO SOMETHING TO SHOW IT OR SHUT UP!"

Ryan recovered from the shock and jutted his chin out. "You know what? I will! Anything you want me to do, I'll do it!"

Kris smirked, eyes narrowed slyly. "Okay. Go all the way through Luigi's Mansion." She jabbed a finger into his chest and added, "Don't come back without going through every single room."

Ryan nodded shortly. "Sure, that'll be easy. I'll be back soon. See ya!"

He turned and walked out the door, quarterstaff in hand. Emily's jaw dropped. "I think he's gonna actually do it."

Pit turned and stared at her. "You're surprised about that?"

"Well, yeah, I didn't think he would be that dumb."

"I did," Kris and Pit both said at the same time.

Emily shook her head. "What if there are still ghosts there?"

"Ryan and I checked it out on the Gameon supercomputer," Kris answered, sitting on a bench and propping her feet on a table. "No ghosts, just really creepy." She got an idea, stood up, and walked off. "Excuse me, please."

Emily shook her head. "I don't want to know."

* * *

In the spooky mansion, Ryan walked down the dark, creaky hallway, gripping his quarterstaff in both hands.

"There's nothing here, there's nothing here, there's nothing here," he chanted quietly. "Just a lot of dust and easy-to-squish spiders. Nothing to worry about- what was that?" He spun at the sound of something rushing by. "Okaaaay…spoooooky…but nothing to be afraid of."

Something creaked behind him. He started to turn, hesitantly.

"BOO!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

_Flash!_

White light flooded Ryan's vision for one disorienting second while he waved his staff around wildly. The only thing he heard besides his screaming was laughter. Very familiar laughter…

Once he could see again, Ryan saw Kris bent over laughing. Surprise, surprise. "KRIS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? I could have hurt you!"

"Right," Kris got herself under control. "Because you are very dangerous when you're flailing around with a big stick screaming like a little girl."

"I was not screaming like a little girl!"

"Fine, a very high-voiced little boy."

"I'm ignoring that. What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you don't chicken out. And enjoying the show."

"You startled me."

"Yeah, I know. The afore-mentioned screaming tipped me off."

"Look, you don't have to keep tabs on me. I'm not gonna chicken out."

"Right, now that I'm here. Let's get moving so we can get out of here."

Ryan nodded and continued on his way down the hall, Kris following. They walked without saying anything for fifteen minutes.

"Ya gotta admit, the place is creepy," Kris commented at last. Ryan nodded and tripped over a protruding floorboard. He grumbled under his breath until he noticed one strange thing.

Kris wasn't laughing.

He turned around and saw Kris wasn't there. "Um…Kris? He got to his feet and looked around. His friend was nowhere to be seen. He started looking behind and inside everything.

"Kris? C-Come on out, Kris, this isn't funny," he called, trying to sound stern, like Emily.

Kris didn't pop out, shrieking. Ryan frowned._ Where'd she go?_

_

* * *

Uh-oh, Kris is gone. What now? Please review!_


End file.
